The mystery tree is a mock orange. About 90% certain this is right.

I keep looking at pictures of orange jessamine too, which is a close relative. But it seems like the tree is far too tall to be a jessamine.

I’m thinking walnut. All these things came off the same tree. But the leaf pattern doesn’t look right for walnut, so I’m confused. A variety of walnut maybe? The leaves are simple, not compound.

ETA: Bay laurel! I think it’s a bay laurel.

Wow, you guys got nearly all of them! Once I have a plant name to try, it’s pretty easy to cross-check with Google. You’re awesome. So here’s what we have, from the pics here.

1 & 2. Pyracanthus, aka California holly
3. Unknown, see below
4. Buddleia, aka butterfly bush (possibly blended with another plant in here)
5. Camellia (possibly magnolia, but I took a close-up of the leaves and I think camellia is right).
6. Bottlebrush, aka New Zealand Christmas tree
7. Cape honeysuckle (probably)

As for #3, it’s pretty hard to ID without seeing leaves. I figured out how to get a better pic. So this is the tall skinny tree with no low-level branches (it seems to be natural, not trimmed that way). Anyone know what kind of tree this is? The leaves are smooth, elongated, a little shiny, with curved edges which come to a point.

ETA: It also has some kind of berry or nut. Below the tree are many tiny white bell-shaped flowers that seem to have come from it, but I’m not sure. I am REALLY hoping this isn’t a willow oak; I would have to take it out. 😦

ETA again: Oh no. I think it’s an olive tree… which is my other severe plant allergy. Oak and olive.

ETA: This flower fell off the tree in question. Please tell me this isn’t an olive tree. 😦 I do see some things resembling olives way up high…

Dear internet,

I like knowing what trees/plants are nearby. Unfortunately, I grew up in Wisconsin and so my tree-names are very Midwestern. I know a few of the plants here–we have a lovely birch tree and a bougainvillea. But there are a number of California plants at my new house and I don’t know their names. Can anyone help me? I want to care for them properly.

(Yes, there are plant-identifying books, but I thought I’d start with just asking people.)

Continue reading →

I’m settling into the new house. It’s currently really, really hot here and we don’t have blinds yet. Talk about greenhouse effect. 😛

I’ll be at World Fantasy, even though the website doesn’t list me for some reason. I’ll be reading at 11:30 Friday night. I’ll try to read something drinking-appropriate. 🙂

Asking for a friend. Does anyone know of good online support groups/resources for people with chronic pain issues? Thanks.

Whew! DSL service is finally live at the new place, so I’m back online. If you’ve emailed me in the last week, I’ll take care of it today. If you don’t hear from me, there’s a slight chance that some emails vanished; try emailing me again. Thanks.

Shannon and I are in our new house! There are boxes everywhere, but it’s gorgeous. Such a delight when I wake up every morning. 🙂

We’re having trouble getting DSL working, so I can’t access my email very easily for now. I hope to have that resolved by Mon or Tues.

I haven’t read LJ in a week or two. In fact, I think almost everything I’ve done in the last two weeks was house-related. I think we had eight different contractors working on the house at various points, and there was a lot of supervising/scheduling to do.

It still feels like a resort to me. Like I’m on vacation, and at some point I’ll have to go back to my regular life. I think it’s all the trees. There’s one part of the garden room where I can’t see anyone else’s house, just the park across the street. So it feels like I’m in a forest or something.

In fact, I had a complete “whoa” moment when I realized that my life outside the house was still the same one. It just doesn’t seem real.

Anyway, now I get to unpack over the next few months. Until then, there’s a lot of, “Honey, have you seen the [blank]?”

My story Witness is up at Redstone Science Fiction, a relatively new online science fiction magazine. I love seeing new markets for short fiction, so I’m really happy to appear with Redstone.

Enjoy.

I know lots of you have heard about FOGcon, but for those who missed it:

The Friends of Genre Convention (FOGcon) is a literary-themed San Francisco SF/F con in the tradition of Wiscon and Readercon. Each year we’ll focus on a new theme in speculative fiction and invite Honored Guests ranging from writers to scientists to artists. We will build community, exchange ideas, and share our love for the literature of imagination.

FOGcon website.

Things are going great! We’re hammering out a lot of details right now, including programming and social events, and you’ll get news on the FOG site when we’re ready to announce things.

The reason I’m posting is to say that I am chairing the convention, which some people may not know. There will be brief bios of many of the concom on the site soon. But it’s many of the same people who run Potlatch and/or WisCon, so if you like those cons, it’s a good bet that you’ll like FOGcon too.

Personally, I know the true character of the con will emerge as we build a community, and I can’t wait to see what happens there. It’s like a sociology thesis in the making. 🙂

Please check out the website if you haven’t already! I hope you’ll visit us out here in San Francisco.